Senior Chris Luther (Dayton, Ohio/Oakwood) became the 17th member of the Denison 1,000-point club, and freshman Dimonde Hale (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) scored a career-high 25 tallies as the Big Red men's basketball team halted a five-game losing streak and knocked off North Coast Athletic Conference rival Kenyon 81-66 on Wednesday night from Livingston Gymnasium.
Entering tonight's contest, Luther needed just six tallies to reach the 1,000-career point plateau. The Dayton, Ohio native joined 16 other members of the elite group on a free throw that gave Denison a 29-23 lead with 3:58 left in the opening half. Luther finished the night with 17 points giving him 1,011 for his career.
DU lead the majority of the opening half thanks in large part to a solid performance on the defensive glass. Denison pulled down 16 defensive rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, 11 of which were grabbed by junior Larry Farmer (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township).
With just over 12 minutes to play in regulation, Hale took a pass from Luther and layed it in to give the Big Red a 52-46 edge. Kenyon responded with a 6-0 spurt that was capped off by Marcus Healey three-pointer. The Lords regained the lead two possessions later on a Uros Vasiljevik trey at the 10:17 mark of the second frame.
Denison responded on their ensuing trip down the floor with a triple by rookie Jon Akpapunam (Bowie, Md./St. Mary's). Akpapunam's three sparked 14-0 run that resulted in a 66-55 DU advantage with 7:20 on the clock. The run featured five tallies from Hale and a three pointer by both Brett Tiberi (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) and Casey Stockton (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer). The Big Red's run eventually ballooned into a 21-4 burst that put the them up by 14 (73-59) with 3:40 left to play. Kenyon was able to trim the margin to 10 on two separate occasions, but Denison went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line over the final 90 seconds to lock up the victory.
In addition to his 17 tallies, Luther corralled five rebounds, dished off three assists and blocked a shot in 33 minutes of play, while Hale shot 10-of-17 from the floor and pulled down five boards. Akpapunam dropped a career-best 11 tallies, and Farmer finished with a career-high 16 rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
The Lords were led by Dave Knapke's 18 points and eight rebounds, while J.T. Knight and Anthony Chun scored 15 and 10, respectively.
DU shot 54 percent from the field, while Kenyon hit on 40 percent of their shots. The Big Red connected on a season high 44 percent from behind the arc and hit 14-of-20 free throws.
Denison improves to 4-14 overall and 4-5 in the NCAC, while Kenyon falls to 5-12 on the year and 2-7 in the league. The Big Red returns to action on Saturday when they travel to NCAC leading Wooster. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.
